Disneyland/DCA/Universal Trip Report (2022/23)

[Jessicajealousy]

Hi All,

 

Thank you for inviting me to complete a trip report on my recent trip to LA - it's my first time doing a trip report, so hopefully I do okay!

 

My husband and I recently flew Qantas to LA - departing 27th (and to our surprise, arriving the 27th) and we left on the 5th Jan.

We spent 2.5 days at Disney (a day cut short due to illness), 1 day at DCA, and 2 days at Universal. We stayed at Disneyland Hotel for 3 nights, and then moved to the Kimpton Everly in downtown LA, about a 7 minute drive to Universal.

 

Disneyland:

I've never cried at a theme park until our first day at Disney! What a magical (and overwhelming) experience.

I've never been to America, and have only been to Hong Kong Disney as a kid - so I did a lot of preparation for this trip, so I knew my way around the park and how to use Genie+ confidently. I'm also a massive Disney parks nerd, so my husband was constantly bombarded with 'fun facts' on every ride. We had honeymoon and first visit buttons - and we loved the attention. Cast members were so beautiful in acknowledging them and occasionally giving us a bit of extra magic (some extra Genie+), we even had Belle stop to welcome us on our first visit, and a wonderful stranger at DCA gifted me a Minnie Mouse handbag (that interaction made me cry).

Genie+ was a success - we didn't mind paying for it, we found it a great benefit to our trip. We didn't end up waiting much the entire trip, as most attractions we use Genie+. We also purchased a lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance twice - my husband is a massive Star Wars fan so he needed two goes on the ride to really take it in (he did cry!). We also purchased Magic Bands, which are new to Disneyland. They were helpful for tapping on for lightning lanes and obtaining photos taken by cast members, but a little disappointing they aren't yet integrated to pay for food/merchandise and for opening your hotel room like you can in Florida. Hopefully, this comes in the future.

We found the parks to be reasonably busy on our first two days there - but on the half day (we went from 4pm) we found it much quieter due to the rain - which didn't bother us in the slightest! Contrary to the blogs I had read, we actually rope-dropped and headed to Tomorrowland - it was basically dead, and we smashed out Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours before the park had even opened. We then hopped over to Adventureland and New Orleans Square for Haunted Mansion (this was the ride I was most excited for - slightly disappointed I didn't get to ride it in its original capacity as it had the Xmas overlay, but still wonderful). We then headed over to Galaxy's edge for ROTR and then spent the rest of the day/night going to various rides (I think we ended the night on Indiana Jones). We caught the fireworks show and watched it from the river (I cried) and then had dinner at Blue Bayou, which was an amazing and delicious experience. We jumped on the monorail back to the hotel, which I think our feet appreciated.

DCA:

Our second day was spent much the same way, we took a break at lunchtime for a nap, and met up with some friends to play mini-golf nearby. We then came back to the park that evening and had our first dole whip (YUM). We then hopped over to DCA, as we had booked tickets for the World Of Colour Dessert Party. While the view of the show was incredible, I'm not sure I feel the experience was worth the money. You got unlimited drinks (which was great, as they bought us two cans of soda to take with us), and then food was a little container with cheese, crackers, grapes and a few sweet treats, including a mickey rise krispie treat, a chocolate cheesecake, and a shortbread cookie. It was yummy, but at $80 a person, I feel a little overpriced. After the show we managed to snag a Genie+ for webslingers, and then jumped in line for Radiator Springs Racers right at closing time - a posted 50-minute wait but I think we only waited 30 mins.

Our third day was spent in the rain at DCA - which again didn't bother us (we live in Victoria and are used to the rain now!). We didn't manage to do every attraction, but did as many as we could, including Soarin, Monsters Inc, Incredicoaster, Midway Mania, Little Mermaid - and my favourite, the animation drawing class! We had lunch at Flo's diner in Cars Land, and I think my favourite ride of the day was Guardians of the Galaxy!

Our fourth and final half day at Disney was quiet as I was still unwell (recovering from a stomach bug I managed to get on new years eve), but we did ROTR again, as well as Winnie The Pooh and my favourite ride of all time, Peter Pan (which I cried again, you'll see a theme here).

Universal:

Moving onto Universal, our first day was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed the tram tour, and we ended up doing it twice. Harry Potter world was by far our favourite - we are both MASSIVE HP fans so this was incredible - and I'm told it's even more amazing in Florida. Sadly, my husband wasn't able to ride Forbidden Journey due to size which was disappointing, as he had had no issues at all at Disney. This was the only ride at Universal he didn't fit on though, which was okay. Flight of the Hippogriff was closed both days sadly.  We also rode Simpsons ride (both massive Simpsons fans so this land was great!). The park was quite busy the first day, and we didn't purchase the queue jumping thing (we found it quite expensive for only two days), but also didn't feel the wait times were as long as some were at Disney.

Our second day rained NON_STOP and we were drenched after 5 minutes in the park - but we didn't let that stop us. We rode the Mummy, Jurassic Park and the Tram Tour again, and also watched the special effects show. Lunch at the three broomsticks was delicious, and then we decided to make our luggage much heavier by spending big in Hogsmeade. The park was VERY quiet this day due to the rain - most attractions only had 5 minute waits!

 

Sadly due to the tummy bug we didn't see much of LA - only seeing the stars and the Chinese Theatre. But looking forward to going back in the future (maybe with less rain) and see more of LA.

 

I hope this report isn't too long (sorry if it is) - I'm happy to answer any questions if you're looking to travel to Disneyland or Universal soon :)

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Thanks for the TR @Jessicajealousy - sounds like you had a great time, sorry you felt poorly for part of the trip though.

Other than getting sick - was there anything about your trip you'd do differently? 

What was the biggest unexpected (pleasant) surprise for you?

Did you catch Fantasmic?

[Jessicajealousy]

4 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Thanks for the TR @Jessicajealousy - sounds like you had a great time, sorry you felt poorly for part of the trip though.

Other than getting sick - was there anything about your trip you'd do differently? 

What was the biggest unexpected (pleasant) surprise for you?

Did you catch Fantasmic?

Thank you!

I think I would have spent more time planning our days - not down to the minute, but other than seeing what we could get with Genie+ and the odd dining reservation, we didn't really have a plan. We also got tired and sore and didn't take many breaks, which means we often got burnt out, and as a result missed out on things. I really wanted to see the Enchanted Tiki Room, but missed out because we ran out of time. 

The biggest surprise was just how LOVELY the cast members were. It took us by surprise! When comparing to the Gold Coast parks, I often feel like the staff there consider it "just a job" and don't enjoy working there. The cast members at Disney (and somewhat at Universal) just seemed to love and enjoy every minute of working there, and it really made our trip even more enjoyable.

We sadly missed Fantasmic - we had planned to see it on our last night - the night I wasn't well and I was just too tired, and I was desperate to ride Peter Pan and see the Lincoln animatronic before we left, so they took priority.

 

We are hoping to get to Florida next year, so hopefully get to see Fantasmic there.

[REGIE]

most ride ops on the Gold Coast are pretty great but there is a few duds but most of them lately have been really friendly when you chat to them.

[Jessicajealousy]

46 minutes ago, REGIE said:

most ride ops on the Gold Coast are pretty great but there is a few duds but most of them lately have been really friendly when you chat to them.

Oh, that's good. I went to Movieworld and Seaworld in July and found lots of staff (particularly at Seaworld) quite inattentive and not super chatty. But maybe I just went on a bad day

[REGIE]

A have run into a few that seem very over it but a lot of the OP’s I have seen in the last 6 months have been super fun and friendly especially at wet’n’wild. MW staff have been nice enough but it’s hard ti get much out of them. The seaworld staff around Leviathan when it was having a lot of trouble were also very apologetic and nice about it.

[Whombex]

Great to hear that you mostly had an awesome time there.
Some questions:

- How did you go with the other guests in the various parks you visited? Sometimes they can add to the magic, sometimes detract. (My DL Paris visit on Halloween was enhanced by so many dressing up, for example.)

- Did you eat in the parks at non-booked / non table service places as well? How much better was the booked restaurant (if they were better)?

- Did you have time to do Smuggler's Run as well as RotR? How was it? 

- As Galaxy's edge has been around for for a little wile now, are the cast members still going with it ("bright suns!" etc)?

- In RotR when you were put in your cells, did you try the Andor "I'm a tourist!" line?  

- What surprised you most about LA (outside of the parks)?

Edited January 22, 2023 by Whombex

[Jessicajealousy]

8 hours ago, Whombex said:

Great to hear that you mostly had an awesome time there.
Some questions:

- How did you go with the other guests in the various parks you visited? Sometimes they can add to the magic, sometimes detract. (My DL Paris visit on Halloween was enhanced by so many dressing up, for example.)

- Did you eat in the parks at non-booked / non table service places as well? How much better was the booked restaurant (if they were better)?

- Did you have time to do Smuggler's Run as well as RotR? How was it? 

- As Galaxy's edge has been around for for a little wile now, are the cast members still going with it ("bright suns!" etc)?

- In RotR when you were put in your cells, did you try the Andor "I'm a tourist!" line?  

- What surprised you most about LA (outside of the parks)?

Hey Whombex! Thanks for the questions

1. Pretty good - lots of guests again congratulating us on first visit/honeymoon. And the interaction of a guest giving me a purse was beautiful. I did find the amount of guest on ECV's (the electric scooter vehicles) really surprised me - they were just everywhere. That and the amount of prams/strollers I found detracted a little from the magic - moreso at Disney than Universal. But, it's a part of life and so I just learned to look past it.

Seeing people dressing up in robes at Universal for HP world was beautiful though, that really added to the atmosphere!

2. We did! We enjoyed breakfast of chocolate croissants (and average coffee) at Jolly Holiday for two mornings - lovely service and hardly any wait. We also ate at Flo's Diner in DVC which is quick service. We did mobile order with Flo's which was quick but no cast member interaction. I definitely preferred table service - much more attentive, chatted with us - just a nicer experience all round. 

3. We did! My husband's screen name for lots of things is GeneralHSolo and so Han Solo is his favourite character - so to see a full size millenium falcon sitting there, and then being able to go in was just unbelievable! We only had the chance to ride it once - we both got engineers. We just ran out of time to do it again and try and be pilots, but maybe on our next trip!

4. YES! Always Bright Suns which was lovely, and when I asked how much extra kyber crystals were (as my husband did Savi's workshop and made his own lightsaber) I was told "18 credits" which I loved! It was just that attention to detail that made galaxy's edge that little bit more special

5. No we didn't - we have just finished watching Andor and we hadn't seen it then (we are very behind :D) - we will have to try that next time!

6. I think the homelessness problem really took me by surprise - once you leave the Disney bubble, the real world hits you and it was sad to experience the way many people live. While homelessness is a problem even in Australia - I think that because making tents/camps on the footpaths is legal in LA, the problem really kind of smacked you in the face and was more noticeable.

But, I also enjoyed how friendly people in LA were - the first place we ate was In and Out Burger, and the staff there were so friendly, and upbeat and excited, it was a great experience! Even when I went to a CVS, the staff were very helpful.

CVS was an experience - very different to an Aussie chemist!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

3 hours ago, Jessicajealousy said:

CVS was an experience - very different to an Aussie chemist!

What chapter are you up to on the receipt?

 

[New display name]

4 hours ago, Jessicajealousy said:

 I think the homelessness problem really took me by surprise

It does for most people the first time.  It makes you appreciate how Australia looks after it's people who suffer from mental illnesses.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

We don't look after people with mental illnesses well... just better than the USA (which isn't really saying much).

[New display name]

I'm not here to have those conversations.

[Jessicajealousy]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

What chapter are you up to on the receipt?

 

Hahahahaha this made me laugh! We also asked our friends to take us to Walmart on our last (which they thought was hilarious). We went to a "superstore" version, which felt like a cross between costco and big w

I NEEDED to take home lucky charms and nerds gummy clusters *drools*

1 hour ago, New display name said:

It does for most people the first time.  It makes you appreciate how Australia looks after it's people who suffer from mental illnesses.

It does. I use to work in Melbourne CBD and felt homelessness was a problem there, but LA felt like than x10 - made me grateful for the country that I live in.